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Analysis: Iran’s Forgotten Revolution- How the US let down the true freedom fighters

Iran is increasingly threatening the State of Israel, the Middle East and the entire world. However, this could have all been avoided had the Obama administration supported the Green Movement in 2009.

As we speak, Iran is increasingly threatening Israel. At the same time, they are in the process of establishing a Shia Crescent. Wherever Iran reaches its tentacles, terror and chaos has dominated. However, had the Obama administration supported the Green Movement in 2009, the situation could have looked very different today.

The Green Movement initially started to demand the removal of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he fraudulently won the 2009 elections. But unfortunately, the Green Movement did not get the backing that they needed in order to succeed. Nevertheless, an anonymous Iraqi source stated: “The other opposition groups wanted to support them. The People’s Mujahedeen wanted to use their sleeper cells inside Iran in order to help them.” The source noted that the Iraqi government surrounded the People’s Mujahedeen “in front of the eyes of America because America was in Iraq at that time. The Shia militia attacked them every day.” The Iraqi source related that numerous Kurds supported the opposition parties by closing down their shops and bazaars. But the PKK, which is closely aligned with Iran, did not like this development: “They didn’t let the people do it and discouraged the people.”

Meanwhile, inside Iran itself, the demonstrations became increasingly violent with the Iranian regime brutally suppressing the movement over a period of 9 months. A young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan became the symbol of the Green Movement when she was brutally murdered by the regime but there were many others. At least 110 people were killed and 10,000 others were arrested. Numerous Iranians were tortured and sham trials were held. The Iranian supporters of the Green Movement turned to social media in order to promote their cause but since the US did not take any action to support them, their social media posts were later on used against them: “Till now, there a lot of mass graves.”

According to Iranian journalist Mohsen Karimi, the Obama administration not only failed to back the Green Movement but even helped the Iranian regime to regain control over the country by granting asylum and providing jobs for so-called reformists who were part of the Green Movement but who did not support overthrowing the regime. He claims that this helped the regime to get rid of a few thousand dissidents, thus reducing pressure on the regime and also empowering people who won’t bring about change in Iran: “The Iranian regime's so-called reformists are only a well-crafted control opposition to extend the life of the regime.”

However, former EU MP Paulo Casaca claims that even the reformist members of the Green Movement who don’t support overthrowing the regime were ignored or even ostracized by the Obama administration. According to him, it is important to remember that Ayatollah Hussein Montazeri was forced to resign and was later condemned to house arrest for criticizing the order to massacre all jailed political dissidents in 1988: “The fact that the iconic figures of the movement came from the regime should not lead us to minimize its importance. As it is often the case, the population uses existing official venues to show its discontent and will certainly not be satisfied only with superficial changes.” In addition, Casaca noted that the Obama administration labeled the People´s Mujahedin as a terror organization while doing nothing for the dissidents who have been imprisoned, flogged and executed.

As of a result of the Obama administration’s decisions, the people living in Iran have suffered immensely. In fact, Casaca related that the Mandeans are on the verge of becoming extinct on the Iranian side of the border. Kurdish dissident Kajal Mohammadi noted that the Iranian regime has been engaged in the systematic killing of Kurds, Al Ahwazi Arabs, Turkmen and Azeris since the 1979 Iranian Revolution: “Right from the start, Khomeini declared jihad against the Kurdish political organizations and accused them of enmity against God. Khomeini even went as far as labeling the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan as the ‘Party of Satan’ and sanctioned mass murder against the Kurdish nation. Thousands of Kurds were executed.”

However, the ethnic minorities aren’t the only ones who are suffering under the Iranian regime. Iranian human rights activist Kaveh Taheri stressed that the Iranian regime brainwashes children into becoming soldiers to fight for the establishment of the Shia Crescent and legitimizes its crimes in the name of defending holy shrines in Syria: “This robs children of their childlike spirit and implants violence in their minds.”

Salah Bayyazidi, the US Representative of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdian, emphasized that Iran has only been emboldened to pursue its aggressive foreign policy and to crack down on dissidents since the rise of ISIS and the nuclear deal being signed with the Western powers: “The rise of ISIS opened the way for more frequent Iranian interference under the pretext of fighting terrorism while the international community is fully aware that this country is sponsoring terrorism across the globe.”

Syrian Kurdish dissident Sherkoh Abbas stressed that Iran has won on the ground in the Middle East and this has sent a powerful message to minorities across the region that they have to submit to their hegemony. However, he noted that if it was not for Obama’s poor decision making, things could have been very different: “Iran could have been a federation of many states. The Islamist religious regime could have been toppled. Many things could have happened. But when they did not do anything, they sent a message that Iran is a force to be reckoned with.”

Nevertheless, Abbas noted that it is not too late for the West to change course. He emphasized that the best way to weaken the Iranian regime is to rearrange the Middle East and to support minority groups like the Kurds: “More than half of the Iranian people are not Persian. If you immediately create numerous independent states or a loose confederation of states in Iraq and Syria, you send a message to all of the minorities that help is coming. Then, the Iraqi and Syrian people will start to tell the minorities that Iran is no longer winning and getting what it wants. This is the beginning of shrinking their influence and the people will rise up against them. Iran will lose 2/3’s of Iraq and it will break up Iran from within.”

Casaca stressed that this year is an election year in Iran and the differences in the warring factions within the Iranian regime have increased due to recent power struggles. He emphasized that this has created widespread discontent within Iran and this presents another opportunity for the Iranian people to stand up to the regime: “The West should not be looking the other way this round as it did back in 2009.”